Crisis Prevention and Recovery

Helping communities to recover from crisis

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Natural disasters threaten human development and undermine the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Social conflict is another serious development impediment. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) therefore gives top priority to supporting Indonesia’s crisis prevention and recovery efforts.

Measures to protect and prepare communities living in Indonesia’s disaster-prone areas, as well as assistance to government capacity to respond to an emergency, can help to significantly reduce risk in the event of disaster and foster a culture of safety. UNDP is providing support to community preparation and planning, as well as policy advice and assistance to the Government’s development of disaster risk reduction legislation.

UNDP is supporting disaster risk reduction in Indonesia by:

Assisting in the implementation of the landmark Disaster Management Bill passed by Parliament in April, thus helping to further strengthen the regulatory environment for disaster risk reduction actions by individuals, businesses, local governments and national government agencies.

Strengthening the capacity of local governments to reduce the impact of disasters, manage disaster hazards, and integrate disaster risk reduction into development planning and budgeting.

Building the institutional environment required to provide the scientific, economic, engineering and technical analysis and inputs needed by development decision-makers to make disaster risk reduction a normal part of development policy making.

Supporting the development of education and public awareness programmes to create a culture of safety and disaster preparedness at the community level.

Funding a range of practical demonstration projects to show how disaster risks can be reduced at local and community levels.

Peace Through Development

Peace Through Development is UNDP’s programme to reduce potential conflict in Indonesia and to enhance post-conflict recovery, focusing on the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku and Central Sulawesi. The programme aims to strengthen governance capacity to support long-term conflict prevention, recovery and peace building. Peace Through Development is also working to improve livelihoods and increase economic opportunities in conflict-affected areas.

UNDP is working in close partnership with the Government of Indonesia to implement a long-term development programme in the post-conflict and post-tsunami environment in Aceh and North Sumatra.

To help strengthen sustainable peace and development in Aceh and North Sumatra, UNDP is focusing on promoting good governance, fighting poverty, managing the environment, supporting disaster risk reduction, providing technical support to the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias, and supporting peace-building initiatives.

UNDP support to Aceh and North Sumatra includes:

Strengthening the Aceh Reintegration Agency (BRA) to ensure the sustained integration of former GAM combatants, over and beyond the 3,000 combatants indicated in the peace agreement of 2005;

Identifying the victims of the conflict and helping to address their grievances;

Assisting the implementation of the Law on Governing Aceh (LOGA) to help create a stronger and more transparent system of governance;

Supporting the “Aceh Programme for Economic Development” (APED) to promote sustainable economic growth by encouraging public-private partnerships and networks and supporting economic activity to raise the level of commodity exports from the province;

Providing technical support to the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias.

(b) Yogyakarta and Central Java

UNDP’s Early Recovery Assistance (ERA) programme is supporting the ongoing Yogyakarta and Central Java recovery from the May 2006 earthquake through income generating activities and the provision of shelter. ERA is further working to mainstream disaster risk reduction for long-term community resilience in the affected areas.